Palmer working on Western Hemisphere alliance to secure America's future — 'We've got to get that done

From mining critical minerals and fixing Medicaid to forming a Western Hemisphere alliance, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) is at the forefront of several key issues to secure America's future. That's why he recently announced plans to run for a seventh term, despite having once committed to limiting himself to five.

On a recent episode of "1819 News: The Podcast," Palmer detailed his political agenda, which he believes has a unique opportunity of succeeding with President Donald Trump at the helm.

"I think I need to stay through the Trump administration. I just turned 71 last week. I spent my birthday in a 26-and-a-half-hour markup. But I think, like on this Western Hemisphere Alliance, I think we've got to get that done. We've got to secure our critical minerals," Palmer said, referring to his plan to work with South American countries on energy and technology deals to quell China's growing influence.

He continued, "I've put together a recommendation on how to fix Medicaid that Speaker [Mike] Johnson loved. The White House likes it, but they didn't want to get it into this bill. So some of this is stuff I've worked on, like I said, for three or four years that I want to complete."

Palmer said it was a "mistake" to term limit himself, and that though he didn't necessarily want to remain in Washington, there was still work to be done.

"So I made a mistake, and I own that. I said that last year when I announced that I was going to run again, that's on me. I shouldn't have said I'd only serve five terms," he said. "But I came under the conclusion that that was a wrong decision, that I needed to stay. Because it's not because I love being in Washington. I don't like it any better today than the day I flew home and decided I wouldn't run. But it's where I think I'm supposed to be in, and the job's not done."

He added, "My first three terms in Congress, there were 109 Republicans who left. They didn't get beat. They just quit. That's half a majority. And they didn't have time to really have an impact. And the problem up there is the bureaucrats. There's another book that I highly recommend. It's entitled 'You Report to Me.' And it was written by the Secretary of Interior, who replaced Ryan Zinke, David Bernhardt. Everybody ought to read that. There's probably four bills that I'll eventually introduce out of that book dealing with the bureaucracy. They did everything they could to thwart the Trump agenda. Because they look at you or me, they look at President Trump and think I was here before you got here, and I'll be here when you leave. The most important thing that they've done is start when they started doing the DOGE operation was getting rid of those people. And the job's not done there either."